Description
Meet the Filmmaker: Harvey Chertok
“Hollywood Goes to War”
Date: Monday, December 5, 2011
Location: NY NATAS, 1375 Broadway (between 37thand 38thStreets), Suite 2103
Reception: 6:00-6:30 PM ~ Program: 6:30-8:00 PM
*Free to NY NATAS Members!
$15 for those without current NY NATAS membership.
To commemorate the upcoming 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, we will look back to see how Hollywood responded to the events of December 7, 1941. This documentary illuminates how our government enlisted the magic of show business and how countless stars such as Bob Hope, The Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller, Abbot & Costello, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra all pitched-in for the war effort. All this was in tandem with the sweeping economic, political and social transformations on the home front that rocked American society during WWII, and for example, brought America's women into war plants as “Rosie The Riveters.” It was also the time of food and gasoline shortages, rationing, scrap drives, and Victory Gardens. Tin Pan Alley musicians joined Madison Avenue advertising agencies to produce propaganda to portray Tojo, Hitler and their cohorts as diabolical villains and silly comic fools.
Hollywood stars geared up in an effort to prove that Americans solidly supported its troops. Scenes at the Hollywood Canteen and other Service Clubs show how enlisted men were honored and revered by stars and the public. Dinah Shore was a club hostess, while Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra teamed up with many others to sell War Bonds. Hollywood went overseas to put on shows for troops in the war zones. Stars like Marlene Dietrich, Frances Langford, Jerry Colona and Joe E. Brown joined Bob Hope on the battlefronts to stage elaborate entertainment events for our servicemen. Armed Forces Radio carried American swing music, news and pop culture around the world. V-mail, and special radio broadcasts recorded on V-discs brought the home front to the war front. America's entertainers rallied both civilians and our armed forces for all the challenges we had until WWII victory was finally declared in Europe and the Far East. And, you will see how it all happened in this nostalgic documentary.
Harvey Chertok is the President of Quartet International, Inc., a worldwide production and distribution company, and was the Series Coordinator for this program. Currently, he is also the Scholarship & Education Co-Chair for the NY Chapter of NATAS and a former National Trustee. A number of his other productions are now available on DVD including: "The Impossible Spy" (John Shea, Eli Wallach), a BBC-TV co-production for HBO; "Hermitage Masterpieces" a 9-hour art history series seen on PBS; and "The Road To World War II", a Reader's Digest series. Additional programs include "Over The Edge", a reality TV series licensed in some 40 countries; and "The Great Charlie Chan", a retrospective documentary about the star of 46 movies, the longest-running film series in Hollywood history.
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED DUE TO BUILDING SECURITY. ALL NAMES MUST BEON GUEST LIST.
Please RSVP via email info@nyemmys.org to reserve a seat. Please write “Hollywood Goes to War” in the subject line. Space is limited.
Producer & Moderated by Sumner Jules Glimcher.